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Custom Cooling Starters Guide
Custom Cooling Starters Guide
Custom Cooling Starters Guide
CUSTOM COOLING
Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
STARTER’S GUIDE
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
AIO
Custom loop liquid cooling
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
So you’ve just finished upgrading your PC or built a new 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
one. Most people would be content to stop there, but
you want the absolute best cooling setup to handle high- 3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
powered gaming, content creation, and more. We’re with
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
you there – for die-hard PC enthusiasts, it doesn’t get
Air cooling
more exciting than a custom cooling loop!
AIO
Of course, custom cooling can come with some anxiety Custom loop liquid cooling
as well. Will you be able to build your first loop? Could it 4. CUSTOM COOLING SETUPS
leak? How do you even know where to start planning this AND COMPONENTS
project and what parts to buy? Tubing
CPU Block
This guide is meant to help you better understand cooling
GPU Block
a PC, the decision behind custom cooling, and how you
Pumps
can plan out your loop and assemble it with absolute
Radiators
confidence. First-time builders who follow the provided
Fans
instructions are almost guaranteed to avoid any issues,
Coolant
and as long as you do your research and stick to the
Fittings
plan, you’ll be well on your way to success.
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
Anyone can do this! 7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
FIRST THINGS FIRST 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
This guide is intended to provide a complete overview of custom water Picking the parts
cooling, answer questions about why and how to cool your PC, and Building a Custom
Cooled PC
teach you about all the parts of a custom cooling loop. If you’re just
looking to pick the parts for your loop and assemble it, you’re only 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
going to need this first section and then continue the process using 3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
our Custom Cooling Configurator. AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
There are dozens of build videos and guides online to help you put a system together, so
you can start anywhere you want. We also recorded and published a playlist of videos that
show the installation of each Hydro X component, including instructions on where to connect
the power and RGB cables, how to fill and maintain a loop, and other useful tips.
This handful of short videos is all that’s needed to confidently build a custom cooling loop,
but don’t forget to also watch fitting and system maintenance guides, and be sure to check
the playlist for future updates. 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Video collection at Corsair Lab YouTube channel: Cooled PC
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8YayGMfPGnUsyMakR50MeaArTKJCAz6E
h
2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
This is all that’s needed to choose, buy, and securely build a AIO
custom cooled PC. If you’d like to know more about custom Custom loop liquid cooling
cooling, the following pages are full of information, interesting
4. CUSTOM COOLING SETUPS
facts, insights, and lessons from the custom cooling enthusiast AND COMPONENTS
community. Tubing
CPU Block
GPU Block
Pumps
Radiators
Fans
Coolant
Fittings
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
ALL ABOUT BEING COOL 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Electronics heat up when they operate, and they heat up even more Picking the parts
under heavy loads. Building a Custom
Cooled PC
When thinking about the physics of cooling, these are several main factors to consider.
Where is heat generated and where is it dissipating into the environment? How is the heat
being transported to the dissipation unit? How can the surface area of the dissipation
element be increased? How can the temperature difference between the dissipation element
and the air surrounding it be increased?
COMPUTER COOLING TYPES 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
Air cooling is the cheapest approach with the fewest 5. CHOOSING YOUR
moving parts for a computer, but when used in COMPONENTS
gaming PCs, it has limitations.
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
The main limitation of air coolers is heat pipe performance when cooling very hot
components. A heat pipe evaporates liquid at the bottom end and the gases rise up the 7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
heat pipe, then condense at the other end, and eject the heat they carried. The cooler vapor
condenses into fluid and makes its way to the bottom of the pipe again, where it’s reheated.
This circulation starts to fail when the whole assembly is so warm that fluid doesn’t really
get a chance to condense and fall to the bottom. At that moment, the air cooler becomes
suddenly unable to effectively cool, and processor temperatures spike quickly. This is known
as heat pipe dryout.
CASING VAPOUR CAVITY
WICK 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
Water cooling offers some key improvements over air cooling. Instead of blowing hot air around 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
the insides of the case, water efficiently carries heat to the radiator attached to the edge of the
case and blows it directly out of the case. 3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
An AIO liquid cooling system is prefilled with cooling liquid in an easy-to-install self-contained Passive cooling
unit. A water block / pump assembly is attached to the processor, the radiator with fans is Air cooling
screwed to the edge of the case, and then the power connectors for the pump and fans are AIO
connected to your motherboard.
Custom loop liquid cooling
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
A custom cooling loop cools not only the CPU, but also the graphics card, SSD drives,
and any other heat-generating component for which there’s an available water block. The
system can also be scaled to a desired level of performance. Want to reduce your operating 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
temperature? Add one more radiator, and it will increase the temperature dissipation Picking the parts
potential of your cooling setup. Building a Custom
Cooled PC
We will cover all the custom loop components below.
2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
Click on “learn more” to advance to the specific section in this document.
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
AIO
Custom loop liquid cooling
but the main decisions will revolve around component choice and 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
positioning, and the flow of circulating coolant.
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
AIO
Custom loop liquid cooling
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
Here, a single pump drives a loop in which the coolant reaches the GPU first, then enters
the CPU block, and is then routed through two radiators – first the top radiator, and then the
radiator on the right side of the case. After dissipating heat through the radiators, the coolant
returns to the tank, where it’s drawn up the tubes again by the pump.
Sidenote
When deciding on a custom loop, consider how hard you’re going to push the PC. Working on intensive 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
operations or high-resolution gaming will generate more heat, and will likely need two radiators to Picking the parts
effectively cool the liquid.
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
With two radiators in a cooling loop, the components can either be looped consecutively 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
(Pump-GPU-CPU-Radiator-Radiator) or intermittently (Pump-GPU-Radiator-CPU-Radiator).
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
T UBING Passive cooling
Air cooling
Tubing is one of the decisions that most define how to plan a build and what the completed AIO
PC will ultimately look like. Custom loop liquid cooling
We recommend that first-timers check YouTube for some insight into bending hardline tubing. 4. CUSTOM COOLING SETUPS
If you’re comfortable with this advanced part of the build, you will have a rewarding challenge AND COMPONENTS
routing your tubing. But if it seems a bit intimidating, you can go with soft tubing on your first
Tubing
attempt. Softline tubing is quite a bit easier to assemble, and if you change your mind about
how tubes are going to route during the build, it’s much easier to adapt halfway through. CPU Block
GPU Block
Pumps
Radiators
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
Watch this video to see how to easily mount the water block.
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
G PU BLOCK
The GPU block is built to cool a graphics card, including the card’s processor, 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
VRMs, and GPU memory. Although the processor generates the most heat, all Picking the parts
these components need to be effectively cooled to ensure peak performance Building a Custom
Cooled PC
under heavy loads. As graphics cards get bigger with every generation,
performance cards take up a lot of space in a PC case. Manufacturer air 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
coolers are getting longer and thicker to cope with the generated heat. Water
cooling can get around this expansion, since water cooling performance scales 3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
mostly with radiator size, and radiators are attached to the side of the case,
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
rather than the card.
Air cooling
To install a GPU block, you first need to disassemble the GPU and take off the air cooler , AIO
exposing the PCB. There are many YouTube videos showing disassembly for any specific Custom loop liquid cooling
card. Once the air cooler is off, it looks something like this:
4. CUSTOM COOLING SETUPS
AND COMPONENTS
Tubing
5. CHOOSING YOUR
NVIDIA RTX 3080 / 3090 FE COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
Choose your pump and reservoir based on your preferred look, and, of course, what fits in
the chosen case. The pumps include mounting brackets, which easily attach to the radiator
fan or other case fan locations.
Sidenote
Pump performance isn’t a concern unless you plan to run an industrial-sized cooling setup. Both
Hydro X Series pumps are capable of moving volumes of water many times greater than you likely
have in your case.
See the following video on how to install a pump and reservoir:
Radiators in a water cooling system take the place of air cooler fins. The coolant Fans
that’s heated in the CPU and GPU blocks is routed through the radiator, where Coolant
the fins ensure a large surface area through which heat can dissipate. CORSAIR Fittings
Hydro X Series radiators are built with a copper core, which further increases the
thermal conductivity of the radiator. 5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
You can choose the number and 6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
dimensions of radiators in your case.
Radiator dimensions are defined by two 7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
factors – the length and the thickness of the
radiator. Lengths are usually expressed in
millimeters, but as a rule, the dimensions
are a multiple of the number of fans
attached to them.
Sidenote
The most common fan size in performance PCs is 120mm (4.7in), expressed as the diameter. That 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
means a 120mm radiator fits one fan, a 240mm radiator will fit two fans, and a 360mm radiator will fit Picking the parts
3 standard fans. There are also larger fans, with a diameter of 140mm, which then leads to radiator
sizes of 140mm, 280mm, and 420mm, respectively. Building a Custom
Cooled PC
The second dimension to consider is thickness. Radiators come in 30mm or 54mm sizes, with 30mm
being more common. More thickness means more surface area, but there can be drawbacks to using 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
a thicker radiator too. Not all cases and fans can manage the larger flow obstruction very well, so
unless there’s a specific reason to install a 54mm radiator, the basic 30mm should suffice. 3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
You can also choose the number of radiators you want to use. Most mid-tower cases can fit one or Air cooling
two radiators, while some of the bigger ones can manage even more. Check our CUSTOM COOLING AIO
CONFIGURATOR and see how many radiators your chosen case (and components) can manage.
Custom loop liquid cooling
C OO LA NT CPU Block
GPU Block
Coolant in a system needs to meet three requirements. It needs to efficiently Pumps
transport heat from water blocks to the radiators, it shouldn’t chemically react with Radiators
other components in the loop, and of course, it should match the aesthetic of your Fans
finished system. It’s very important to choose a coolant that has been tested for Coolant
compatibility or, at the very least, is specialized for PC cooling, rather than tap water Fittings
or distilled water.
5. CHOOSING YOUR
Coolant needs to circulate in the system, resist algae contamination, and be non-reactive with COMPONENTS
all the copper, nickel, and plastic elements present. A list of tested, compatible coolants with all
CORSAIR water blocks and pumps can be found here . Of course, we recommend CORSAIR 6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
Hydro X Series performance coolant – we’ve tested it more than any other coolant, and it works
great in every machine in our office.
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
When selecting coolant from a compatible product line, consider the build’s desired look.
First, there is a choice of transparent or colored coolant. If you don’t like the look of the one you
chose, you can easily drain your system and replace it with a different one. On the other hand,
if you’re undecided about the look you want to achieve, you can’t go wrong with transparent
coolant (again, don’t use distilled or tap water). The color of the case can be changed by
tweaking the RGB profile, and transparent coolant won’t clash with any RGB lighting or mood.
1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
Sidenote
Custom loop liquid cooling
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
FIT T INGS
Fittings connect components to tubing, and they also help angle connections, set up drain 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
valves, or split one flow line into two. The type of fittings depends on the choice of soft or Picking the parts
hard tubing. Fittings ensure watertight seals differently with these types of tubes, which Building a Custom
means that you should choose specific compression (for soft tubing) or hardline fittings. Cooled PC
Follow the guidance of the CUSTOM COOLING CONFIGURATOR , where you can select 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
the tubing type in the final overview of the system’s specifications, and the configurator will
adapt the part list to reflect the type of tubing you chose.
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
AIO
Custom loop liquid cooling
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
At this point, you’ve probably thought about the tubing type you’re comfortable with, and
coolant color. You can choose fittings in a color that matches your desired look, from white and
black to match your case to silver and gold to realize a specific vision.
CHOOSING YOUR COMPONENTS 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
When setting up your custom cooling system, component choice Picking the parts
can be difficult. Choosing all the custom loop parts and making sure Building a Custom
Cooled PC
everything is compatible with your other PC components is hard
enough, but how does it fit in your case? 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
That’s why we’ve built a custom cooling configurator that can help determine the exact cooling Air cooling
loop pieces you need, as well as make sure that they’re all compatible with other components. The AIO
system also makes sure they all fit in your case and calculates the heat output of your machine, Custom loop liquid cooling
adapting the cooling to support it.
4. CUSTOM COOLING SETUPS
AND COMPONENTS
Best of all, anyone can do it in a few minutes. Simply choose a case, motherboard, CPU, and
Tubing
graphics card from our extensive list of parts, and our cooling configurator will offer up to three
setups. Each setup is calculated to ensure the system can extract enough heat to support CPU Block
components and fit in the chosen case. GPU Block
Pumps
Configurations can be saved to access later, and you can also download a complete parts list
Radiators
and price quote for your custom cooling loop.
Fans
Coolant
Fittings
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
The custom cooling configurator can be accessed here . We’ve prepared a short summary
below as well.
1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
First-time custom cooling loop builders should probably check out our custom cooling kits . Picking the parts
The components in the kit are guaranteed to be compatible with each other, and they include Building a Custom
the CPU water block, pump, tubing, fittings, fans, coolant, and radiator, as well as the basic Cooled PC
tools needed to bend and cut tubes. The only things missing for a complete setup is a GPU
block (you can find the specific one made for your graphics card in our store) and a heat gun, if 2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
you’re planning to bend hardline tubing.
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
AIO
Custom loop liquid cooling
5. CHOOSING YOUR
COMPONENTS
6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
ASSEMBLING THE LOOP 1. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Before assembling a cooling loop, you need to assemble a PC. Picking the parts
Building a Custom
Cooled PC
We won’t get into too much detail here, but check out our video build guide to get started.
2. ALL ABOUT BEING COOL
3. COMPUTER COOLING TYPES
AND THEIR DIFFERENCES
Passive cooling
Air cooling
AIO
Custom loop liquid cooling
There are many little crevices and gaps in a system where algae can settle, and as with 4. CUSTOM COOLING SETUPS
any biological culture, if one is left behind, it will soon find a way to multiply into a thriving AND COMPONENTS
community. Put in simple terms, algae is an unlikely problem, but one that keeps coming back. Tubing
CPU Block
Some best practices to prevent and remove biocontamination are listed below.
The best way to deal with custom loop biocontamination is to avoid it in the first place. It’s GPU Block
worth taking some simple precautions in advance to prevent a headache later on. Pumps
Avoid two factors of biocontamination: introducing the culture (algae) into the loop and Radiators
providing the “food” that it needs to grow. Fans
Coolant
Keep it clean
Fittings
Surgeons carefully wash their hands, wear masks and gloves, and use disinfected equipment
for one (main) reason: to prevent a small infection from entering the patient and growing into a 5. CHOOSING YOUR
dangerous problem long after the surgery is over. COMPONENTS
Custom cooling loops are similar – take every precaution possible to prevent the introduction 6. ASSEMBLING THE LOOP
of bio-contaminants into the loop as you build:
7. MAINTAINING THE LOOP
> Always use clean components. If needed, especially after a coolant replacement or if the
components were sitting in storage for a while, wash them with soapy water and rinse
them with distilled water before installation.
> Tap water is not your friend. It includes algae and bacteria which might be safe to drink
but will make a custom loop their new home. After washing components with tap water,
always rinse the complete loop with plenty of distilled water.
> Wash hands thoroughly before handling custom loop parts and plug any holes in
components not currently in use.
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